An Honest Mistake
by deadhylian
Summary: He'd never expected this to happen, and he wanted it to be a dream. A horrible nightmare. - AU? I guess. It's short and bad, I'm sorry. Bro & Dave sad times ahoy.


**Something I wrote because I was upset and I needed to vent it out somewhere. Sorry for the lack of length and whatnot. But yeah these characters aren't mine and stuff.**

* * *

There was a heavy ticking in his ears that originated from the clock on the wall behind him, but he wasn't paying any mind to it.  
He was focused on something far more important.

At the very end of the hallway, there was a single door that stood out from the rest. There wasn't anything different about it, and there certainly wasn't anything happening.  
No, behind that door was the only person that had ever meant anything to this man.

And he was dying.

Visibly shaking, he did his best to control the tremors that had started from his hands and spread their way through his entire body. After all, he wasn't allowed to lose his cool.  
He made it his own rule not to break the blank slate he prided himself on. Though it seemed today wasn't a day for that. For the shaking still continued no matter what he did and he didn't have the heart to keep trying.

Concealed eyes snapped over to the door when he heard rushed footsteps, and on his feet in an instant he was rushing to meet the doctor halfway. A quick glance over the man's face told him nothing but bad news, and there was a heavy feeling in his chest that hadn't been there moments before. Receding hairline and thick rimmed glasses were the most noticeable things on the doctor's person as he cleared his throat to address the elder sibling.

"I'm sorry, Sir. We've tried all we can but I'm afraid it wasn't enough. Your brother has passed away. There was just too much blood loss. I'm sincerely sorry for your loss."

Words fell on deaf ears as he pushed past the older man, immediately making a beeline towards the very room he'd been staring down. He felt a hand tug on the sleeve of his shirt and he blindly stared towards the doctor. The rushed beating of his heart was blocking the other's voice reaching his ears. Something about being unable to go in there was all he caught.

"I have to see him. Don't even tell me I can't see my little brother one last time. Don't take that away from me."

Yanking his arm away from the balding man, all he got was a sigh in return before he was given the okay. Not waiting around a moment longer, he quickly crossed the remaining space and pushed the door open with a heavy heart. Instantly snapping his eyes to the prone form on the hospital bed, the breath he'd been about to take died in his throat.

He sagged bonelessly into the chair beside the mattress, and barely felt the wetness creeping down his skin as he reached out to take a limp hand. Stubbornly ignoring the cold digits, he finally let himself break the perfectly constructed mask worn in public. Leaning forward, the man rested his face on the blankets beside the hand he gripped a little too tight.

"This is all my fault. You were just a fucking kid and I took that away from you. Why did I ever think strifing with my 14 year old brother was a good idea? I didn't hear you when you told me to stop. Didn't realise you were running out of energy."

Giving the hand resting securely in his own a meager squeeze, the elder sibling thought back to their strife.

* * *

_He landed heavily on his feet, drawn out breaths leaving his throat as he stared across the rooftop at his older brother. There was a trickle of blood making its way down his forehead that had been caused by a shallow graze with the very katana pointed in his direction._  
_Every movement made caused his muscles to scream at him and he gasped tiredly when his brother flash-stepped towards him._

_Barely able to block the attack, the younger sibling was nearing the end of his limit and as his brother relented enough for him to escape, Dave flash stepped to the stairwell's door._  
_"I can't keep going, Bro. I'm too fucking tired, lets just go play video games or somethi-"_  
_His sentence was cut off by the wet slide of blade against skin, and all he heard before he crumbled to the ground was a horrified inhale behind him._

_Dropping to his own knees, Dirk's hands hovered uselessly over the limp body of his brother and he turned him so there was no pressure on either side of the blade lodged through his torso. There was a tremor moving through his arms that he wasn't in the right mind to stop and he briefly recognized the blood staining his fingers._

_Snapping out of his thoughts before a mental breakdown occurred, he slipped his arms underneath Dave's back and knees and lifted him up bridal style. With a worried glance around, the elder Strider flash stepped into their apartment and deposited the younger on the lounge, before moving over to the phone to hastily dial for an ambulance._

* * *

Lifting his head up to sneak a glance at the face of the once-lively Dave, the tremors in his hands started up again and he gripped tightly to the younger's digits to calm himself down.

"..But then everything fucking happened all at once. You were laying there on the floor and my sword...Oh god. The blood..everything..Dave. I'm so sorry."

Wetness turned into rain upon his cheek and it slid in rivulets to soak into the blanket beneath him, the shades he never took off resting on the pillow beside his brother's head. He'd removed them sometime between the start of his breakdown and the end of it, and oddly coloured irises shined brightly through the tears clouding his vision.

He'd taken away the one thing he'd given the boy; a life to live.


End file.
